Children's books and activities
Music and Musicians
Many kids love to sing, write songs, play music, and even create their own homemade instruments. And some children are curious about the lives of famous singers, songwriters, and musicians. We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about music and musicians.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres [6] (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as music and musicians. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge [7], vocabulary [8], and comprehension skills.
How to explore this theme:
- Read fiction and nonfiction books
- Try some hands-on activities
- Build writing skills with these fun ideas
- Dig deeper with kid-friendly websites
- Play and learn with mobile apps
More themed resources:
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Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
A Tisket, a Tasket
By: Ella Fitzgerald
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The song made famous by jazz great Ella Fitzgerald in the 1930s has been re-created, re-...
Purchase book [17]
Bats in the Band
By: Brian Lies
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When the bats awaken from winter hibernation, not only do their stomachs grumble, they are...
Purchase book [18]
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 3-6 years old
John's music began when he listened to the music in his childhood. Semi-abstract...
Purchase book [19]
Ben's Trumpet
By: Rachel Isadora
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Ben wants to be a trumpeter, but he plays only an imaginary instrument until one of the...
Purchase book [20]
Bird & Diz
By: Gary Gallo
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Presents a rhythmic tribute to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and their creation of bebop....
Purchase book [21]
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Inspired by jazz great Charlie Parker, rhythm and repetition are woven together to create a...
Purchase book [22]
Dooby Dooby Moo
By: Doreen Cronin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Duck reads about an upcoming talent show at the county fair, he organizes the animals on...
Purchase book [23]
Drum City
By: Thea Guidone
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A young boy begins banging on pots and pans in his front yard, enticing other children to join...
Purchase book [24]
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
By: Susan Wood
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Meet Juan García Esquivel whose contributions to music can still be heard. From his early days...
Purchase book [25]
Every Little Thing
By: Bob Marley, Cedella Marley
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In this illustrated version of Bob Marley's song, a young boy, with the encouragement of three...
Purchase book [26]
Forever Young
By: Bob Dylan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Since it first appeared on the 1974 album Planet Waves, "Forever Young" has been one of Bob...
Purchase book [27]
Gus and Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar
By: Keith Richards
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Long before there was a band, there was a boy: a young Keith Richards, who was introduced to the...
Purchase book [28]
Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
By: Renee Watson
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [29]
Hip Cat
By: Jonathan London
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A cool cat named Oobie-Do moves to San Francisco, plays his saxophone and works as a short order...
Purchase book [30]
Hip Hop Dog
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A mutt tells reveals a "doggy allegory" and how he went from "the saddest and the...
Purchase book [31]
I Got the Rhythm
By: Connie Scholfield-Morrison
Age Level: 3-6 years old
On a sunny day, a child and her mother go for a walk in the park. The rhythm the girl hears in...
Purchase book [32]
Jazz Baby
By: Lisa Wheeler
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Baby and his family make some jazzy music.
Purchase book [33]
Kenya's Song
By: Linda Trice
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Kenya is looking for a favorite song to share with her class. She and her father attend a...
Purchase book [34]
Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals
By: Ashley Bryan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Three well known spirituals, "This Little Light of Mine," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and...
Purchase book [35]
Let's Play!
By: Gabriel Alborozo
Age Level: 3-6 years old
From the tinkling tones of the tiny piccolo to the majesty of the grand piano or the deep...
Purchase book [36]
Little Pig Joins the Band
By: David Hyde Costello
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Little Pig has trouble keeping up with his older--and bigger--brothers and sisters. When they...
Purchase book [37]
Manuelo, the Playing Mantis
By: Don Freeman
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A praying mantis who longs to make music gets help from a spider name Debby Webster.
Purchase book [38]
Mole Music
By: David McPhail
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Feeling that something is missing in his simple life, Mole acquires a violin and learns to make...
Purchase book [39]
Music, Music for Everyone
By: Vera Williams
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Rosa's grandmother becomes sick, Rosa comes up with an idea that not only makes...
Purchase book [40]
Musical Instruments Series
By: Xist Publishing
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Describes instruments, their parts, the different types, and how they are played.
Purchase book [41]
Olivia Forms a Band
By: Ian Falconer
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When Olivia learns that there will be no band at the evening's fireworks display, she decides to...
Purchase book [42]
One Love
By: Cedella Marley
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In this illustrated version of Bob Marley's song, a young girl enlists her friends, family, and...
Purchase book [43]
Peter and the Wolf
By: Chris Raschka, Sergei Prokofiev
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Retells the orchestral fairy tale in which a boy ignores his grandfather's warnings and captures...
Purchase book [44]
Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum
By: Robert Andrew Parker
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The story of young Art Tatum, who became one of the all-time greats of jazz.
Purchase book [45]
Punk Farm
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Age Level: 3-6 years old
At the end of the day, while Farmer Joe gets ready for bed, his animals tune their instruments...
Purchase book [46]
Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
By: Sergei Prokofiev
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Despite Grandfather's warning about wolves in the forest, Peter and his animal friends capture...
Purchase book [47]
Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down!
By: Mark Alan Stamaty
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Recounts the author's childhood determination to emulate Elvis Presley after being inspired by...
Purchase book [48]
The Orchestra Pit
By: Johanna Wright
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Even though the green-spotted snake wanders into the wrong pit – an orchestra pit – he takes the...
Purchase book [49]
This Land is Your Land
By: Woodie Guthrie
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Guthrie's folk song begins a journey across the United States. Highly detailed, richly colored...
Purchase book [50]
Tito Puente, Mambo King
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [51]
Uptown
By: Bryan Collier
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Join a boy as he takes you uptown to introduce his Harlem home, filled with excitement, sounds,...
Purchase book [52]
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Marian Anderson was an extraordinary contralto whose talent was celebrated in Europe long before...
Purchase book [53]
Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
An introductory biography of famous folk singer Woody Guthrie presented as a picture book with a...
Purchase book [54]
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
A Band of Angels
By: Deborah Hopkinson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ella Sheppard was one of the original Jubilee Singers from what is now known as Fisk University...
Purchase book [55]
A Good Night for Ghosts
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Jack and Annie go to New Orleans on All Saint's Day in 1915 to find a young musician named Louis...
Purchase book [56]
Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band
By: Kwame Alexander
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When a jazz-loving rooster sets his sights on winning a barnyard talent show, he realizes he can...
Purchase book [57]
Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
By: Susan Hood
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A town built on a landfill. A community in need of hope. A girl with a dream. A man with a...
Purchase book [58]
Banjo Granny
By: Sarah Martin Busse, Jacqueline Martin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Owen’s singing, banjo-playing Granny goes out “to cross one river, one mountain, and a desert”...
Purchase book [59]
Boys Dancing: From School Gym to Theater Stage
By: George Ancona
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Elementary school-age boys start at the beginning of the school year to study with Pamela at the...
Purchase book [60]
Bremen Town Musician
By: Jacob Grimm
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This is the classic tale of four beleaguered animals—a donkey who can no longer work, a hound...
Purchase book [61]
Can You Hear It?
By: William Lach
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Introduces children to music through works of art. Pictures set the scene for the music, and...
Purchase book [62]
Celia Cruz: Queen of Salsa
By: Veronica Chambers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Celia Cruz began singing on the streets of Havana as a child. She grew up to become a legendary...
Purchase book [63]
Dizzy
By: Jonah Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
John Birks Gillespie was an angry child from an abusive home. He was able to overcome huge...
Purchase book [64]
Django: World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born into a poor Roma family, Django Reinhardt's musical talent takes him to perform on European...
Purchase book [65]
Drum Dream Girl: One Girl's Courage Changed Music
By: Margarita Engle
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follows a girl in the 1920s as she strives to become a drummer, despite being continually...
Purchase book [66]
Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite
By: Anna Harwell Celenza
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Duke Ellington's collaboration with a classically trained colleague resulting in unique...
Purchase book [67]
Elizabeth's Song
By: Michael Wenberg
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A fictionalized account of how an 11-year-old girl, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, saved to buy her...
Purchase book [68]
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa
By: Andrea Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From her early days in Harlem to becoming the First Lady of Jazz, the story of Ella Fitzgerald...
Purchase book [69]
Ellington Was Not a Street
By: Kadir Nelson, Ntozake Shange
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Handsome illustrations of Shange's evocative poem, "Mood Indigo," pay homage to the many African...
Purchase book [70]
Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King
By: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A picture-book biography of a poor kid from Tupelo, Mississippi, who became an American musical...
Purchase book [71]
Fab Four Friends
By: Susanna Reich
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Through paintings and text, traces the history and rise in popularity of the Beatles.
Purchase book [72]
Finding the Music/En pos de la musica
By: Jennifer Torres
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Reyna accidentally breaks her abuelo’s vihuela and tries to fix it before her family finds out....
Purchase book [73]
Flowers for Sarajevo
By: John McCutcheon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Drasko is Milo’s son who carries on his father’s flower business even after things in Sarajevo...
Purchase book [74]
For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart
By: Elizabeth Rusch, Steve Johnson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The life of Wolfgang’s older sister, Maria Anna, follows the form of a piano sonata which...
Purchase book [75]
Freedom in Congo Square
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Join the rhythmic countdown to Sunday afternoon, the one time when enslaved Africans in 19th...
Purchase book [76]
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin
By: Chieri Uegaki
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Inspired by memories of the time she spent in Japan with her grandfather, a professional...
Purchase book [77]
Harlem
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Experienced readers will enjoy this stunning and sophisticated visit to Harlem in word and image...
Purchase book [78]
Harlem Renaissance Party
By: Faith Ringgold
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lonnie travels back in time to meet many of the artists, writers, and musicians of the Harlem...
Purchase book [79]
How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz
By: Jonah Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Jelly Roll Morton became – to his grandmother’s horror – a musician in New Orleans, developing...
Purchase book [80]
I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
By: Barbara Garriel
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An adaptation of the folk rhyme "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," featuring musical...
Purchase book [81]
Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl
By: Debbi Michiko Florence
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Third-grader, Jasmine Toguchi, wants to enter her school’s talent show, but what talent could...
Purchase book [82]
John Coltrane's Giant Steps
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
John Coltrane's musical composition is performed by a box, a snowflake, some raindrops, and a...
Purchase book [84]
Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed
By: Leslea Newman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Moshe Cotel was a composer who lived in a noisy building on a noisy street in a noisy city. But...
Purchase book [85]
Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1927, the always musically gifted Mary Violet Leontyne Price...
Purchase book [86]
Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotton
By: Laura Veirs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotton heard music all around her growing up in North Carolina. She became a...
Purchase book [87]
Listen to the Birds: An Introduction to Classical Music
By: Ana Gerhard
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Provides an introduction to classical music, describing how birds have inspired composers...
Purchase book [88]
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
By: Katheryn Russell-Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A biography of African American musician who played the trombone and composed and arranged music...
Purchase book [89]
Little Rat Makes Music
By: Monica Bang-Campbell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Little Rat wants to be musical and play an instrument just as do the other members of her family...
Purchase book [90]
M Is for Music
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The alphabet is used as a device to introduce the vocabulary for a range of musical styles as...
Purchase book [91]
Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens
By: Nina Nolan
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This brief, broad introduction to gospel great, Mahalia Jackson, is sure to inform as well as...
Purchase book [92]
Max Found Two Sticks
By: Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
It was a day when Max didn't feel like talking to anyone. He just sat on his front steps and...
Purchase book [93]
Moses Goes to a Concert
By: Isaac Millman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Moses and his schoolmates, all deaf, attend a concert where the orchestra's percussionist is...
Purchase book [94]
Mr. Putter and Tabby Toot the Horn
By: Cynthia Rylant
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Mr. Putter's neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry, decides that they should join a band, but finding the...
Purchase book [95]
Music for Mr. Moon
By: Erin Stead
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Harriet just wants to play her cello alone. But when she accidentally knocks the lonely moon...
Purchase book [96]
My Name Is Celia/Me llamo Celia
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [97]
Odetta: The Queen of Folk
By: Stephen Alcorn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The life and music of Odetta who became an influential folksinger and civil rights activist is...
Purchase book [98]
Penny and Her Song
By: Kevin Henkes
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Henkes' first easy reader introduces Penny and her mouse family in two appealing chapters. Penny...
Purchase book [99]
Play, Mozart, Play!
By: Peter Sís
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not only a famous composer and a musical genius; his father turned...
Purchase book [100]
Simple Gifts
By: Chris Raschka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A familiar traditional Shaker hymn has been interpreted in bold, semi-abstract, jewel-toned...
Purchase book [101]
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald
By: Eileen L. Ordover
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From a poor girl who had "a dancing beat in her feet ever since she was a bitty girl"...
Purchase book [102]
Sweet Music in Harlem
By: Debbie Taylor
Age Level: 6-9 years old
CJ's uncle, a well known jazz musician, has lost his signature hat and sends the boy out to...
Purchase book [103]
Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
By: Karen Deans
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of a group of African American orphans who played in their school's all-girl swing...
Purchase book [104]
Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Encourages the reader, through practical advice, to support his or her buffalo's desire to play...
Purchase book [105]
The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny)
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A group of young men from Liverpool changed the world of music and they enjoyed a good laugh —...
Purchase book [106]
The Cardboard Piano
By: Lynne Rae Perkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Debbie is taking piano lessons and makes a cardboard piano for her friend Tina. But when Tina...
Purchase book [107]
The Carnival of the Animals
By: Jack Prelutsky
Age Level: 6-9 years old
New poems, many rhyming, describe the animals introduced in Saint-Saens' orchestral music that...
Purchase book [108]
The Composer Is Dead
By: Lemony Snicket
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An inspector seeks to solve a murder mystery at the symphony by questioning each of the musical...
Purchase book [109]
The Deaf Musicians
By: Pete Seeger, Paul Dubois Jacobs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An inspector seeks to solve a murder mystery at the symphony by questioning each of the musical...
Purchase book [110]
The First Flute
By: David Bouchard, Jan Reibach
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When a name is given to an adult, it is often given based on the life that person has lived. The...
Purchase book [111]
The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete Seeger
By: Colin Meloy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Pete Seeger was a musician, an activist, an environmentalist and more. An overview of his life...
Purchase book [112]
Purchase audio version [113]
The Little Piano Girl
By: Ann Ingalls, Maryann Macdonald
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A child prodigy at the piano sprinkles her music with a little jazz. Includes an afterword about...
Purchase book [114]
The Piano
By: William Miller
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A young girl's love for music leads her to a job in the home of an older woman who teaches her...
Purchase book [115]
The Shoe Bird
By: Barbara M. Joosse
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An absurd but satisfying fantasy based on Eudora Welty's only children’s work, is presented in...
Purchase book [116]
Trombone Shorty
By: Trou "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Troy Andrews grew up in a New Orleans family of musicians so it’s not surprising that he, too,...
Purchase book [117]
Tuba Lessons
By: T.C. Bartlett
Age Level: 6-9 years old
While walking through the woods on his way to his tuba lesson, a boy becomes sidetracked by all...
Purchase book [118]
Ukulele Hayley
By: Judy Cox
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Hayley has finally found her talent: playing ukelele like her great-aunt Ruby, who traveled all...
Purchase book [119]
When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan
By: Gary Gallo
Age Level: 6-9 years old
this picture-book biography follows a young Bob Simmerman as he renames himself after his...
Purchase book [120]
When Grandmama Sings
By: Margaree King Mitchell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Belle goes with her talented grandmother on a singing tour during a time of racial segregation...
Purchase book [121]
When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky
By: Lauren Stringer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Stravinsky, a composer, and a dancer named Nijnsky each worked alone until they met. Their...
Purchase book [122]
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
By: Laban Carrick Hill
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From his early childhood in Jamaica, Clive loved all types of music. When he was 13 years old,...
Purchase book [123]
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
By: Lloyd Moss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When this book begins, the trombone is playing all by itself. But soon a trumpet makes a duet, a...
Purchase book [124]
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
All Summer Long
By: Hope Larson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Bina’s first summer without her best friend, Austin, proves to be an emotional roller coaster....
Purchase book [125]
Purchase Kindle version [126]
Amina's Voice
By: Hena Khan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Amina loves music, but stage fright and her conservative uncle’s disapproval hamper her...
Purchase book [127]
Purchase audio version [128]
Purchase Kindle version [129]
Audition & Subtraction
By: Amy Fellner Dominy
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Tatum, a 14-year-old clarinetist, competes with new student Michael for a spot in honor band,...
Purchase book [130]
Better Nate Than Ever
By: Tim Federle
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he’s wanted to star in a Broadway show. But how is...
Purchase book [131]
Purchase audio version [132]
Purchase Kindle version [133]
Blackbird Fly
By: Erin Entrada Kelly
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Bullied at school, eighth-grader Apple, a Filipino American who loves the music of the Beatles,...
Purchase book [134]
Blues Journey
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Rich paintings in limited colors convey the power of a people and a piece of their history. Done...
Purchase book [135]
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
By: Rita Williams-Garcia
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Clayton Byrd adores his grandfather, loves the jazz Cool Papa plays with the other bluesmen in...
Purchase book [136]
Dreambender
By: Ronald Kidd
Age Level: 9-12 years old
In a world where dreambenders manipulate dreams in order to remove emotions both negative and...
Purchase book [137]
Echo
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A harmonica and a bit of magic link different children from different times.
Purchase book [138]
Firebird
By: Misty Copeland
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Misty Copeland, the African American Ballet Theater soloist, has an encouraging conversation...
Purchase book [139]
Great American Mousical
By: Emma Walton Hamilton
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [140]
Guitar Notes
By: Mary Amato
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Two very different high school students discover a mutual appreciation for writing songs for the...
Purchase book [141]
High-Tech DIY Projects with Musical Instruments
By: Maggie Murphy
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Provides information about music, instruments, and sound while offering step-by-step...
Purchase book [142]
I Am Drums
By: Mike Grosso
Age Level: 9-12 years old
When Sam’s school music program goes under, and her parents can’t afford to buy her a drum kit...
Purchase book [143]
Purchase Kindle version [144]
I Heart Band Series
By: Michelle Schusterman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The books follow French horn player Holly Mead as she navigates middle school friendships and...
Purchase book [145]
Jazz
By: Walter Dean Myers
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Experience the explosion of color and movement of jazz as you pulsate with its beat in a vibrant...
Purchase book [146]
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph
By: Roxanne Orgill
Age Level: 9-12 years old
In 1958, photographer Art Kane gathered up a who’s who of jazz musicians on a New York City...
Purchase book [147]
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
By: Patricia Hruby Powell
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Josephine Baker’s life and struggles of this performer and activist comes to life.
Purchase book [148]
Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies
By: Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [149]
Learn to Speak Music
By: John Crossingham
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Learn to Speak Music helps young readers learn this universal language of music by revealing...
Purchase book [150]
Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music That Changed the World
By: Robbie Robertson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Part memoir, part tribute, and all great storytelling. Music industry veterans Robbie Robertson...
Purchase book [151]
Let Your Voice Be Heard: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger
By: Anita Silvey
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Pete Seeger lived a long life sharing his music and his convictions about equality with...
Purchase book [152]
Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought)
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Short, fresh and fun essays present a broad array of musicians and their music - from Bach to...
Purchase book [153]
Maker Projects for Kids Who Love Music
By: Rebecca Sjonger
Age Level: 9-12 years old
For kids into music, this title cant be beat! From inspiring profiles of key Maker musicians, to...
Purchase book [154]
Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound
By: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Listen to the “groove” as readers make their way through the history of Motown, the people who...
Purchase book [155]
Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
By: Robert Levine
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Describes the orchestra and includes information on composers, instruments, and the conductor....
Purchase book [156]
The First Rule of Punk
By: Celia C. Pérez
Age Level: 9-12 years old
When her “Super Mexican” mother drags her across the country, away from her father, what better...
Purchase book [157]
Purchase Kindle version [158]
The Flute
By: Rachna Gilmore
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Her parents swept away by a catastrophic flood, Chandra finds solace in her mother's magic flute...
Purchase book [159]
The Music in George’s Head: George Gershwin Creates Rhapsody in Blue
By: Suzanne Slade
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Illustrations in blues and grays combine with words to flow across the pages of this handsome...
Purchase book [160]
The Rising Star of Rusty Nail
By: Lesley M. Blume
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Hansen is a 10-year-old piano prodigy living in Rusty Nail, Minnesota. She's long exhausted the...
Purchase book [161]
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman
By: Ben H. Winters
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Spurred by a special project from social studies teacher, seventh grader Bethesda Fielding...
Purchase book [162]
The Sweetest Sound
By: Sherri Winston
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Ten-year-old Cadence Mariah Jolley is surrounded by music. She inherited a beautiful voice from...
Purchase book [163]
Purchase Kindle version [164]
The Voice That Challenged a Nation
By: Russell Freedman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A Newbery Honor book that accounts the life and musical career of the great African American...
Purchase book [165]
What Is Rock and Roll?
By: Jim O'Connor
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This entry in the popular "Who Was" series covers the background of rock and roll music that...
Purchase book [166]
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Bee Hummer [167]
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Bottle Cap Castanets [168]
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Brazilian Cuica Drum [169]
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Cereal Box Guitar [170]
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Drawing to Music [171]
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Duct Tape Drum [172]
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Homemade Kazoo [173]
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Making Music: Literacy Tips for Parents [174]
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Music to Our Ears [175]
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Musical Scavenger Hunt [176]
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Outdoor Sound Wall [177]
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Pin Strummers [178]
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Posicle Stick Harmonica [179]
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Rainstick I [180]
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Rainstick II [181]
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River Music [182]
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Shoebox Guitar [183]
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Song Cubes [184]
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Song Lyrics Wall Art [185]
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Sound & Volume Vibrations Experiment [186]
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Sound Automata [187]
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Sound Box Listening Game [188]
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StikBots Music Video [189]
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Voice Pipe [190]
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Water Bottle Membranophone [191]
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
- Create a Family Jingle [192]
- In Verse [193]
- Inspired by Music: Holst's "The Planets" [194]
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
- Arts Alive [195]
- Brain Pop: Arts and Music [196]
- Creating Music [197]
- Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids [198]
- Famous Artists and Musicians [199] $
- Field Guides to the Performing Arts for Parents [200]
- Instruments from Around the World [201]
- Kennedy Center ARTS EDGE [202]
- Let's Sing Together: Spotify's Top Family Friendly Playlists [203]
- Listen: Making Sense of Sound [204]
- Math Science Music [205]
- Perfect Pitch [206]
- San Francisco Symphony for Kids [207]
- Science of Music [208]
- Sing-Along Songs [209]
- Smithsonian Folkways Recordings [210]
- Sounds of the Silk Road [211]
- Summer Sounds: Insect Songs [212]
- The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra [213]
Mobile Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
- ABC Music [214] $
- Beat Sneak Bandit [215] $
- Bloom HD [216] $
- Duckie Deck Homemade Orchestra [217] $
- Groove Coaster 2 [218] $
- Incredibox [219] $
- LOOPIMAL [220] $
- MiniPiano [221]
- Morton Subotnick's Pitch Painter [222] $
- Musical Me [223]
- Mussila [224] $
- My First Classical Music App [225] $
- Sound Rebound [226] $
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Listen and Learn with Audio Books [227]
Download PDF: English [228] | Spanish [229] -
Making Music: Literacy Tips for Parents [230]
Download PDF: English [231] | Spanish [232]
Our Summer Blog
Washington DC for Kids
Places
Events
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Discovery Theater [245]
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Jammin Java Tot Rock [247] $
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Jazz in the Garden [248]
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Strathmore Kids [254] $